Good morning from Venezia! Blessed with another lovely day! Enjoyed our relaxing breakfast by a open kitchen window.

Curiously observing the morning canal traffic. Everything being transported by boat gives a new perspective to take in.

*Boats, boats…always amazing to see the many different type of boats. Boats for every need.*

Giada came to Cima Rosa at ten. We were so looking forward to seeing the markets and all the fresh food! A start to our tour was the Fish Market. The fish market is a daily occurrence. A place where the restaurant chefs and home cooks will go each morning to pick up the seafood they will need for the daily specials, so fresh!

*One of the many tables of fresh sea food from the Adriatic Sea…*

*Cuttlefish…found out what it looked like uncooked.*

*This is how to protect pedestrians from the sword fish…just a chunk of styrofoam.*

A Venician diet consists of a lot of seafood. After taking in the fishy smells we moved on to the produce area of the market. Buying us a bag of delicious looking cherries to eat in between our other eats!

*Wishing our small Mississippi home town had this market…*

*Notice the Zucchini flowers for sell…we told our guide we wanted to try the fried Zucchini flowers. She made it happen later in the tour. Zucchini filled with Mozzarella cheese.*

*We bought some cherries from this vendor*

Our tour continued on through the streets and over the Rialto Bridge. Gathering tid bits of information and history along the way. Finding ourselves at Fondaco dei Tedeschi ( a high end shopping mall ), we took the escalators to the top terrace for excellent views of the city.

*This overlook is in the corner of the Grand Canal*

*Beautiful view of the grand canal and all of its boat activity*

A waterfront along the harbor stroll Giada pointing the houses of long ago merchants, and the islands where Murano Glass is blown by the glass makers. Some Real Murano glass (not the fake glass, be careful ) makes a great Venician souvenir!

*The area cruise ships pass through so close to the main city*

This city is an amazing engineering accomplishment. The majority of all the buildings, streets, etc…are being held up by many, many wood post driven deep into the mud below. This is one of the reason the Venetian people loathe cruise ships docking at the their harbor. Their unique city and way of life is fragile and has been slowly sinking over time. These massive cruise ships move so much water their fear is this is only speeding up the decay below the city. The other side of this argument is the fact Venetians depend on the tourist money to survive. Maybe there can be compromise made somehow in the city's behalf? Time will tell.

Took in a view of the gondola workshop. Notice the Chalet looking houses in the picture. Interestingly the boat builders originated from the Dolomites.

*Walked passed this gondola repair and new gondola construction site.*

Stopped by a couple churches to take in the paintings and hear a little history. After the bright sunshine the dim interiors of the churches are refreshingly cool.

*Such narrow alleys…where Giada leads we’ll follow*

Last but not least, Giada took us to her favorite pizza place. We divided the cherries we had bought between us before saying our goodbyes. Some relaxing while enjoying a cold coke and yummy pizza ensued. (Well not quite as yummy as Naples pizza ;) !

Once again we were on our own. We headed out to find the spice store that Giada had told us about. Only to find it was closed but would be opening soon. In the meantime before it opened we enjoyed a cold coffee drink and found us a spot along the canal to enjoy it. Back at the spice store we bought some olive oil and a bottle of good Balsamic vinegar for the food we are dreaming of making back home.

*Local spice store. Here we bought olive oil and balsamic vinegar to take home. Had to wait for the doors to open*

Alas no credit card were accepted at this store only cash they said. Off we went to find the nearest ATM before we could make the purchase.

Jeff wanted to see the Bridge of Sighs and I was wanting to walk through a few of the Murano glass stores. We set off on a bridge hunt! Once again it took alot of walking! After a little confusion with Google maps again, we spotted the Bridge of Sighs. According to legend, the name comes from when condemned prisoners were taken to prison or to be executed. They would cross this bridge and could briefly catch a glimpse of the world outside through the windows on the bridge.

Along the way I was enjoy looking at all the pretty glass. Ended up buying a lovely Murano vase as a Venician keepsake.

It’s our last day in Italy...trying to soak up as much of Venezia as we can! It was finally time to head back to our home neighborhood and Cima Rosa to get ready for Dinner. We were thinking maybe we should try a different restaurant this time. Only after a walk around we came back to the same one we had enjoyed for the last two nights. Jeff enjoyed his pasta with shrimp and zucchini. I had sea brim. The whole fish on the plate. Of course we shared like always! It was all good down to the last bite!

*Our yummy go to spot to eat dinner here in Venezia*

Arrivederci Friends, for we leave domani (tommorow) back the USA…Back to reality…I’m sure our dogs and the other animals will be happy to see us. Thank you to those who helped with all the chores at home! A special Grazie! to all our new wonderful Italian friends who so graciously shared their Italia with us...Per Favore (please) come visit us in Mississippi, prego!! We are so grateful to have had this opportunity in life to broaden our horizons, taste, learn just alittle about this delicious cuisine and to see another beautiful country in God's creation. Italy is truly a very special place with such well preserved architecture and an amazing culture. Hopefully this will not be our last time to visit Italia… One more thing, if anyone has any questions or is planning a trip to Italy, we would like to hear from you. If we can be of any help to you just let us know. There is so much more we could share then what we have written in these blog post…

We are back at Cima Rosa looking forward to a good night sleep before the Big day of traveling home. Our alarm is set to ring at 7 am...Bonne Notte! Till tommorow…

Check back soon to read about an unusual way to arrive at the airport and our traveling day’s events…

*Last evening in Venezia…sad but so grateful for the opportunity to experience this city and beautiful Italia.*

Venezia

Arrivederci Italia…

Venice, Treviso